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»U-  HIST.  SURVEY 


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INDIANA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY     PUBLICATIONS 
Vol.  7.  No.  4. 


The  National  Road  in  Indiana 


BY 

LEE  BURNS 


Pen  Drawings  by 
Willard  C.  Osier  and 
Wilbur  Briant  Shook 


INDIANAPOLIS 

C.  E.  Pauley  &  Co. 
1919 


The  National  Road  in  Indiana 

By  Lee  Burns 


To  fully  understand  the  reasons  that  led  to  the  building  by 
the  National  Government  of  the  great  highway  that  crosses 
Central  Indiana  from  east  to  west,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
movements  that  led  to  the  building  of  the  original  Cumberland 
road  to  connect  the  Potomac  river  with  the  Ohio. 

A  half  century  before  the  smouldering  discontent  of  the 
English  colonists  along  the  Atlantic  coast  with  their  home 
government  burst  into  the  flame  of  revolution,  it  was  seen  that 
a  conflict  was  inevitable  between  English  and  French  for  con- 
trol of  the  country  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Great  Lakes,  and 
for  military  reasons  alone  the  English  realized  that  a  way  to 
the  west  should  be  established  across  the  Allegheny  mountains. 

From  Quebec  and  Montreal,  along  the  noble  river  St.  Law- 
rence, and  across  the  Great  Lakes,  French  traders  and  explor- 
ers had  found  an  easy  way  by  water  to  the  fertile  valleys  of 
the  Mississippi,  Wabash  and  Ohio,  and  had  established  a  chain 
of  trading  posts  extending  to  the  gulf. 

Yet  comprehensive  claims  to  most  of  this  territory  were 
made  by  Virginia,  and  English  traders,  who  had  followed  the 
tedious  trails  across  the  mountains,  were  as  familiar  with  the 
Ohio  valley  as  any  Frenchman. 

In  1748  certain  gentlemen  of  Virginia,  including  Mr.  Aug- 
ustine Washington,  of  Mt.  Vernon,  organized  the  Ohio  Land 
Company  and  were  granted  by  the  English  government  six 
hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  great  waterway,  which 
they  planned  to  develop. 

These  plans  were  checked  and  the  long  foreseen  conflict  for 
control  of  this  western  country  began  when,  in  1753,  the  Mar- 


210  National  Road  in  Indiana 

quis  Duquesne,  the  French  governor  of  Canada,  despatched  a 
force  to  open  a  way  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Allegheny  and 
established  an  outpost  upon  the  bank  of  the  river.  In  that 
same  year  Robert  Dinwiddie  of  London  was  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia.  He  had  become  one  of  the  stockholders  of 
the  Ohio  company  and  realized  that  the  interests  of  both  his 
government  and  the  company  required  that  the  French  be  pre- 
vented from  gaining  control  of  the  Ohio  territory.  Accordingly 
a  message  was  forwarded  requiring  them  to  depart  and  warn- 
ing them  that  if  they  did  not  the  English  would  drive  them  off 
by  force  of  arms. 

The  messenger  who  carried  this  summons,  was  George 
Washington,  half  brother  to  Augustine  Washington,  of  the 
Ohio  Company.  George  Washington  was  then  but  twenty- 
one.  He  had  however,  served  as  a  surveyor  in  the  rough 
country  of  the  Shenandoah,  knew  the  life  of  the  frontier,  and 
was  competent  to  undertake  the  journey  through  the  pathless 
mountain  forests. 

The  French  received  him  courteously  but  made  it  clear  that 
they  intended  to  hold  the  Ohio  as  their  own.  At  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio  they  had  built  Fort  Duquesne  and  over  their  highway 
of  waters  they  were  receiving  reinforcements  of  men  and 
munitions  from  Canada. 

A  few  months  later  a  little  force  of  Virginians  under  Wash- 
ington's command  started  westward  across  the  mountains  to 
expel  them  from  this  territory.  But  first  a  way  had  to  be  cut 
through  the  trackless  forests,  the  difficulties  of  transportation 
hampered  them  at  every  step  and  finally,  outnumbered  two  to 
one,  they  were  defeated  by  the  French  at  the  battle  of  Great 
Meadows.  This  defeat  was  caused  in  a  great  measure  by  the 
lack  of  a  roadway  for  the  transportation  of  their  supplies. 

A  year  later  Major  General  Edward  Braddock,  newly 
arrived  from  England,  led  a  force  of  two  thousand  men,  with 
artillery  trains  and  baggage,  through  the  wilderness  against 


National  Road  in  Indiana  211 

Fort  Duquesne.  Week  after  week  they  worked  with  axe  and 
spade,  making  a  way  through  the  dense  woods  of  the  moun- 
tains for  their  stores  and  artillery,  only  to  meet  defeat. 

It  was  not  until  1758  that  Fort  Duquesne,  was  abandoned  by 
the  French,  and  then  it  was  the  campaign  of  the  English 
against  their  lines  of  communication  along  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  Great  Lakes  that  forced  their  retirement.  The  next 
year  Quebec  was  captured  and  control  of  the  western  territory 
reached  by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence  fell  into  English  hands. 

The  treaty  of  1763,  which  gave  to  the  English  all  of  the 
territory  that  the  French  had  claimed  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
gave  an  impulse  to  the  tide  of  migration  over  the  mountains 
and  into  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  west.  This  movement,  that 
was  checked  somewhat  during  the  war  for  Independence,  began 
again  in  increased  volume  immediately  after  the  fighting  had 
ceased. 

The  claims  of  the  United  States  to  the  western  country  had 
been  made  secure  by  the  victories  of  George  Rogers  Clark  at 
Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes  and  within  a  year  after  peace  had 
been  declared  Washington  again  journeyed  westward  over  the 
mountains  studying  the  possibility  of  opening  a  means  of  trans- 
portation to  connect  the  head  waters  of  the  Potomac  with  the 
Ohio.  He  was  convinced  that  unless  some  better  means  were 
found  for  communication  with  the  east  the  western  settlers 
might  find  it  to  their  interests  to  form  an  alliance  with  the 
Spaniards  at  New  Orleans,  which  was  readily  accessible  to 
them  by  water. 

At  his  suggestion  a  series  of  conferences  was  held  between 
representatives  of  Virginia  and  the  neighboring  states  to  con- 
sider the  project,  and  from  these  discussions  were  developed 
far  greater  plans,  that  finally  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a 
federal  union  and  the  election  of  Washington  to  the  Presidency. 

During  the  next  few  years  there  was  much  discussion  of  the 
proposition  to  build   a  national   road  across  the  mountains. 


212  National  Road  in  Indiana 

Washington  died  before  it  assumed  concrete  form  but  its  im- 
portance was  recognized  by  everyone,  although  many  leaders 
of  public  opinion,  including  Thomas  Jefferson,  believed  that 
there  was  no  constitutional  authority  for  the  construction  by 
Congress  of  internal  improvements. 

Finally  a  solution  was  found  that  was  satisfactory  to  every- 
one. Ohio  was  clamoring  for  admission  to  statehood,  and  in 
the  act  of  Congress  in  1802,  enabling  her  people  to  form  a 
state  government,  it  was  provided  that  five  per  cent  of  the 
amount  received  by  the  National  government  from  the  sale  of 
public  land  within  the  state  should  be  applied  to  laying  out 
and  building  public  roads  from  the  navigable  waters  emptying 
into  the  Atlantic  to  the  state,  and  through  the  same,  such  roads 
to  be  laid  out  under  the  authority  of  Congress  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  states  through  which  they  passed. 

Similar  provisions  were  afterwards  incorporated  in  the  acts 
that  provided  for  the  admission  of  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri, three-fifths  of  the  fund  being  returned  to  the  states  for 
their  own  internal  improvements. 

In  1803  Congress  made  the  first  appropriation  from  the  re- 
maining two-fifths,  the  "two  per  cent  fund",  as  it  was  called, 
for  building  a  road  across  the  Allegheny  mountains  to  the 
Ohio.  This  was  the  official  beginning  of  the  great  highway 
that  finally  ran  for  seven  hundred  miles  to  the  Mississippi, 
crossing  six  states  and  costing,  during  the  quarter  century  that 
it  was  under  construction,  nearly  seven  million  dollars,  a  huge 
sum  in  those  days. 

This  was  equal  to  nearly  half  the  amount  paid  by  the  United 
States  for  the  great  province  of  Louisiana,  or,  to  use  a  more 
modern  comparison,  it  represents  the  expenditures  by  this 
country  for  about  four  hours  of  the  great  war  in  Europe. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  republic  many  other  plans 
were  proposed  for  highways  and  canals  needed  to  bind  together 
the  scattered  settlements,  yet  the  national  government  under- 


National  Road  in  Indiana  213 

took  nothing  aside  from  the  road  to  the  west.  The  committee 
appointed  by  Congress  to  review  this  project  recommended 
that  the  road  across  the  mountains  should  run  from  the  town 
of  Cumberland,  on  the  bank  of  the  Potomac  in  the  state  of 
Maryland  to  some  place  on  the  Ohio  river  between  Steuben- 
ville  and  Wheeling. 

The  debates  in  Congress  show  that  a  southern  branch  of  the 
National  road  was  also  contemplated.  In  a  speech  made  by 
Henry  Clay  he  referred  to  the  branch  that  would  pass  through 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to  Natchez  and  New  Orleans.  How- 
ever, before  the  road  was  completed  through  Ohio  and  Indi- 
ana the  great  era  of  railroad  building  had  begun,  and  the 
project  for  a  southern  highway  was  generally  forgotten. 

Immediately  after  receiving  the  report  of  their  committee, 
Congress  authorized  the  laying  out  and  building  of  the  Cum- 
berland or  National  road,  under  the  direction  of  the  president 
of  the  United  States,  the  road  to  be  cleared  of  trees  for  a 
width  of  four  rods  and  to  have  a  carriage  way  in  the  middle 
paved  with  stone,  gravel  or  sand. 

This  act  was  approved  by  Thomas  Jefferson  on  March  29, 
1806,  and  preliminary  surveys  were  at  once  begun.  The  first 
contracts  were  let  in  April,  1811,  for  building  the  ten  miles 
west  of  Cumberland,  Maryland.  During  the  next  six  years 
additional  contracts  were  made  and  by  1818  United  States  mail 
coaches  were  running  on  the  road  between  the  cities  of  Wash- 
ington and  Wheeling,  Virginia. 

A  flood  of  traffic  immediately  swept  over  this  great  highway. 
As  early  as  the  year  1822  it  is  recorded  that  a  single  one  of  the 
five  commission  houses  at  Wheeling  unloaded  over  one  thou- 
sand wagons  and  paid  for  the  carrying  of  goods  the  sum  of 
ninety  thousand  dollars. 

Hardly  had  the  road  been  completed  when  a  constitutional 
question  again  threatened  its  existence.  To  secure  funds  for 
the  constant  repairs  made  necessary  by  the  heavy  travel,  Con- 


214  National  Road  in  Indiana 

gress  proposed  to  establish  toll-gates  along  the  road,  but  a  bill 
for  this  purpose  was  vetoed  by  president  Monroe  on  the  ground 
that  while  the  national  government  might  have  the  power  to 
make  appropriations  for  public  improvements,  it  had  no  right 
to  assume  jurisdiction  over  the  land  and  levy  tolls.  Two  years 
later,  however,  the  same  purpose  was  accomplished  in  a  differ- 
ent way  by  a  bill  providing  that  the  government  should  put 
the  road  in  good  repair  and  then  turn  it  over  for  maintenance 
to  the  several  states  through  which  it  passed.  This  bill  was 
approved  by  President  Monroe. 

When  the  road  reached  Wheeling,  Virginia,  it  came  to  a 
place  where  river  navigation  to  the  west  was  possible  except 
during  the  winter,  and  steamers  were  plying  the  Ohio  river 
when  the  Cumberland  road  was  first  opened.  However,  the 
interior  parts  of  the  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  were  becoming 
gradually  settled  and  needed  their  own  line  of  communication 
to  the  east.  The  demand  for  a  road  through  the  interior  re- 
sulted in  an  act  of  Congress  of  May  15,  1820,  by  which  there 
was  appropriated  $10,000.00  for  laying  out  a  road  between 
Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  a  point  on  the  Mississippi  river  be- 
tween St.  Louis  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  the  road 
to  be  eighty  feet  wide  and  on  a  straight  line. 

Had  the  road  been  built  on  an  exact  straight  line  as  directed 
it  would  have  been  several  miles  south  of  its  final  location,  but 
during  the  summer  of  that  year  the  site  for  a  permanent  seat 
of  government  for  the  new  state  of  Indiana  was  selected,  and 
at  the  next  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana,  held 
at  Corydon  the  following  January,  the  town  was  named  Indi- 
anapolis, orders  were  given  to  have  it  surveyed,  and  a  memorial 
was  sent  by  the  Assembly  to  Congress  asking  that  the  line  of 
the  proposed  "Western  National  Road"  which  was  "esteemed 
to  be  fifteen  miles  south"  should  be  located  so  as  to  reach  the 
new  capital,  attention  being  called  to  the  fact  that  at  no  other 


National  Road  in  Indiana  215 

place  along  White  River  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  was 
there  so  good  a  location  for  a  bridge. 

Accordingly  when,  in  1825,  Congress  made  an  appropriation 
for  building  the  road  as  far  as  Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  complet- 
ing the  surveys  farther  west,  they  passed  an  amendment  to 
the  act  of  1820,  offered  by  Jonathan  Jennings,  of  Indiana,  pro- 
viding that  the  road  should  pass  by  the  seats  of  government  of 
Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois. 

The  original  field  notes  for  the  final  survey  in  Indiana,  made 
in  1827,  are  in  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Engineers  of  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  and  photographic  copies  of  them 
are  in  the  State  Library  at  Indianapolis.  They  are  in  four 
volumes  and  give  distances  in  chains,  the  locations  of  mileposts, 
the  name  of  settlers  along  the  line,  and  full  notes  of  streams 
and  other  natural  points. 

This  work  was  in  charge  of  Jonathan  Knight,  Commissioner, 
and  Joseph  Schower,  surveyor.  The  field  notes  are  in  Knight's 
handwriting.  There  is  also  at  the  War  Department  a  map 
made  in  1827  under  the  direction  of  Jonathan  Knight  showing- 
the  location  of  the  road  across  the  state  of  Indiana.  This 
shows  that  the  road  was  to  run  due  west  from  the  Ohio  line 
to  Indianapolis,  passing  through  the  towns  of  Richmond  and 
Centerville  in  Wayne  County.  Centerville  was  then  the  county 
seat.  Two  other  towns  shown  in  Wayne  County  as  being  near 
the  road,  Salisbury  and  Vandalia,  have  since  disappeared. 

From  Centerville  to  Indianapolis  there  were  then  no  towns 
along  the  road  nor  were  there  any  between  Indianapolis  and 
Terre  Haute.  Between  these  last  two  points  the  road  as  lo- 
cated ran  in  practically  a  straight  line,  a  little  southwest,  miss- 
ing Danville,  Greencastle  and  Bowling  Green,  the  newly  located 
seats  of  justice  in  the  counties  of  Hendricks,  Putnam  and 
Clay. 

The  map  of  1827  shows  what  was  known  as  the  "State 
Road"   running  nearly  parallel   with   the   proposed   National 


216  National  Road  in  Indiana 

Road  throughout  the  entire  distance  from  Richmond  to  Terre 
Haute.  This  State  Road  was  one  of  the  roads  that  had  been 
laid  out  by  the  state  from  what  was  known  as  the  "three  per 
cent  fund",  which  was  that  part  of  the  fund  received  from 
the  sale  of  government  land  that  Congress  had  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  state  for  its  own  road  building.  While  this 
Indiana  State  Road  had  been  surveyed,  only  part  of  it  had 
been  cleared  when  the  National  Road  survey  was  made. 

The  State  road  was  planned  to  be  about  100  feet  wide  but 
the  fund  was  so  insufficient  that  little  could  be  done  but  cut 
away  part  of  the  timber.  This  served  to  admit  the  sunshine 
and  dry  out  the  ground,  but  at  first  these  state  roads  were  little 
more  than  bridle  paths  through  the  stumps  and  in  bad  weather 
they  were  practically  impassable. 

The  government  road  from  Cumberland  to  the  west  was  80 
feet  in  width,  the  timber  was  grubbed,  the  ground  was  graded, 
and  the  bridges  and  culverts  were  built  of  stone.  In  the  cen- 
ter was  a  track  30  to  40  feet  wide,  on  which  stage  coaches 
could  race  abreast  and  the  plans  provided  that  this  was  to  be 
macadamized  with  ten  inches  of  stone. 

The  Field  Notes  of  the  surveyors  in  Indiana  begin  as  fol- 
lows: 

"June  13,  1827.  Commenced  for  the  continuation  of  the 
location  of  the  Cumberland  Road  at  a  stake  2'  8"  high  on  the 
line  dividing  the  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  1  chain  and  5 
links  from  a  notched  beech  and  1  chain  and  9  links  from  a 
notched  poplar." 

Trees  were  used  for  most  of  the  points  of  location.  The 
character  of  the  heavy  timber  in  Indiana  is  shown  by  the  men- 
tion in  the  first  few  pages  of  the  survey  of  such  trees  as  elm, 
walnut,  hickory,  sugar,  linn,  oak,  buckeye,  beech,  blue  ash  and 
hackberry. 

Between  the  state  line  and  the  settlement  at  Richmond  the 
survey  passed  near  the  clearings  made  by  Robert  Hill,  Dr. 


National  Road  in  Indiana  217 

Griffith  and  Samuel  Charles.  Two  other  settlers  were  noted 
between  Richmond  and  Centerville,  and  seven  more  were  noted 
between  Centerville  and  the  Western  edge  of  the  county.  Now 
and  then  an  orchard  was  noted  in  the  clearings.  This  upper 
part  of  the  Whitewater  valley  was  at  that  time  the  most  thickly 
settled  part  of  Indiana  along  the  line  of  the  road.  Eight  or 
ten  other  houses  were  noted  on  the  way  to  Indianapolis. 

The  surveyors  reached  Indianapolis,  then  a  town  of  about 
seven  hundred  inhabitants,  on  July  5,  1827.  East  of  town 
they  came  to  the  Brookville  road  leading  to  the  lower  White- 
water valley  country  and  furnishing  communication  with  Cin- 
cinnati, then  the  principal  market  town  of  this  western  terri- 
tory. The  field  notes  show  that  the  new  road  was  to  run  by 
"Widow  Rogue's  ditch",  then  across  Pogue's  Creek,  and  then 
continue  to  the  east  boundary  of  the  town  of  Indianapolis, 
where  it  was  to  follow  Washington  Street  to  the  west  boundary 
of  the  town. 

The  survey  for  the  road  west  of  Indianapolis  was  begun 
September  10,  1827.  It  started  from  a  stake  at  the  west  edge 
of  the  town  plat  and  continued  as  a  prolongation  of  Washing- 
ton Street  to  White  river.  It  was  noted  that  a  bridge  356 
feet  in  length  would  be  needed  and  the  site  for  the  west  end 
of  the  bridge  was  located  north  of  a  notched  buckeye  tree. 
Just  east  of  Eagle  Creek  the  road  passed  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Harris  and  west  of  the  creek  was  the  house  of  William  Holmes. 
These  were  the  only  settlements  west  of  the  river  in  Marion 
county.  On  the  east  fork  of  White  Lick  in  Hendricks  County 
the  survey  ran  north  of  the  house  of  John  Furnas.  Ten  or 
twelve  more  clearings  were  noted  between  there  and  Terre 
Haute,  each  being  on  the  bank  of  a  water  course. 

After  struggling  for  over  a  month  through  heavy  forests, 
wading  creeks,  and  running  their  lines  through  the  swampy 
lowlands,  the  surveyors  came  upon  Jenck's  distillery  about  five 
miles  east  of  Terre  Haute  and  located  the  road  a  few  feet  to 


218  National  Road  in  Indiana 

the  south.  This  must  have  been  a  red  letter  day  although  it 
was  the  13th  of  the  month.  The  next  day  was  Sunday,  which 
must  have  been  passed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  distillery, 
but  on  Monday  morning  the  surveyors  started  on  across  the 
Harrison  Prairie,  which  was  covered  by  water  about  a  foot  in 
depth,  and  by  nightfall  they  had  reached  the  edge  of  Terre 
Haute  at  the  east  end  of  Wabash  Street  and  had  located  the 
road  along  that  street  to  the  Wabash  river.  The  survey  had 
passed  through  heavy  timber  from  the  eastern  line  of  the  state 
until  it  reached  the  Harrison  prairie.  Three  days  later  the 
survey  was  completed  to  the  Illinois  state  line  which  was 
marked  by  a  stake  near  a  notched  elm  tree  and  13  chains,  12 
links  from  the  "six  mile  tree"  on  the  state  line. 

The  survey  was  continued  to  Vandalia,  then  the  capital  of 
Illinois,  and  finally  the  road  was  located  to  the  Mississippi 
river  but  it  was  never  graded  and  bridged  by  the  government 
beyond  Vandalia. 

Throughout  the  survey  the  field  notes  indicated  locations 
where  stone  could  be  found  for  bridges  and  culverts  and  the 
necessity  was  noted  for  building  a  number  of  short  canals  to 
divert  streams  that  might  prove  troublesome. 

The  first  appropriation  for  opening  the  road  in  Indiana  was 
made  in  1829.  The  amount  was  $51,600.00.  It  provided  that 
the  work  should  be  carried  on  both  east  and  west  from  Indi- 
anapolis under  two  superintendents,  each  of  whom  was  to  be 
paid  $800.00  a  year.  Homer  Johnson  and  John  Milroy  were 
appointed  superintendents  and  in  June  they  advertised  for  pro- 
posals to  cut  the  timber  for  a  road  eighty  feet  wide,  remove  the 
stumps  in  the  central  thirty  feet  and  do  the  necessary  grading. 
It  was  planned  to  work  east  and  west  from  Indianapolis  until 
the  appropriation  was  exhausted  but  the  settlers  along  other 
parts  of  the  surveys  made  such  objections  to  this  seeming  dis- 


I* 

ft.Q 


220  National  Road  in  Indiana 

crimination  that  word  came  from  Washington  to  change  the 
specifications. 

New  ones  were  therefore  drawn  that  did  not  provide  for 
removing  the  stumps.  It  was  provided  however  that  no  stumps 
were  to  be  over  fifteen  inches  high  and  that  those  in  the  cen- 
ter of  the  road  were  to  be  rounded  and  trimmed  so  as  to 
present  no  serious  obstructions  to  carriages. 

Letting  of  contracts  on  this  basis  was  begun  in  Wayne 
County  in  September,  and  on  October  third,  John  Milroy  wrote 
from  Terre  Haute  that  contracts  had  been  completed  for  the 
entire  distance  across  the  state,  the  average  price  being  $121.00 
a  mile,  leaving  as  he  said  a  handsome  surplus  for  future  work. 

A. few  weeks  later  additional  instructions  came  from  Wash- 
ington to  have  the  stumps  grubbed  out.  This  cost  about  $75.00 
a  mile  and  left  a  series  of  mounds  and  holes  that  made  the 
road  impassable.  Many  complaints  were  made  to  those  in 
charge  of  the  work.  In  a  letter  written  from  Washington  by 
Jonathan  Knight  the  following  February  he  said  that  he  fully 
realized  the  condition  of  the  road,  but  did  not  doubt  the  inten- 
tion of  Congress  to  have  it  graded  and  bridged. 

During  the  next  ten  years  Congress  made  an  additional 
appropriation  each  year  for  the  work  in  Indiana.  The  act  of 
1831  provided  for  a  bridge  over  White  river  where  a  ferry 
had  been  operated  for  several  years.  The  bridge  was  begun 
that  same  year  and  completed  three  years  later.  It  was  a 
covered  structure  built  of  hewed  timbers  of  yellow  poplar  on 
stone  piers  and  abutments  and  cost  $18,000.00.  This  bridge 
was  in  use  for  sixty  years  and  when  torn  down  to  make  way 
for  a  more  modern  structure  was  still  in  serviceable  condition. 

Great  excitement  was  caused  in  Indianapolis  in  the  spring 
of  1831  by  the  appearance  of  the  steamboat  "Robert  Hanna" 
that  had  been  brought  up  White  river  to  haul  stone  for  the 
bridge.  This  seemed  to  be  proof  positive  that  the  river  was 
navigable.     The  entire  population  of  nearly  eleven  hundred 


National  Road  in  Indiana  221 

people  turned  out  to  see  the  boat  and  a  salute  was  fired  from  a 
cannon  belonging  to  the  local  artillery  company.  However 
the  boat  grounded  on  an  island  where  it  stayed  for  several 
months  and  the  stone  was  finally  hauled  on  a  flat  boat. 

Five  years  later  a  bridge  was  authorized  over  the  Wabash. 
Stone  was  hauled  for  this  bridge  but  it  was  never  built,  a 
ferry  being  used  instead  until  a  toll  bridge  was  built  several 
years  later  by  private  enterprise. 

Hugh  McCulloch,  a  director  of  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana, 
who  made  his  first  visit  to  Indianapolis  in  1833,  said  that  there 
were  then  but  two  bridges  in  the  state,  both  built  by  the  gov- 
ernment on  the  National  road. 

By  1834  the  road  extended  clear  across  the  state.  A  large 
force  of  men  was  at  work  that  year  on  the  grades  and  embank- 
ments in  Vigo  County.  Many  of  the  pioneers  made  their  start 
in  life  with  money  earned  by  working  on  the  road.  They  were 
paid  62J/Zc  a  day,  which  was  higher  than  the  usual  rate.  It 
is  recorded  that  among  those  who  shoveled  dirt  on  the  road 
in  Clay  county  when  it  was  under  construction  in  the  spring 
of  1833  was  Morgan  Ringo  who  earned  in  this  way  the  money 
to  buy  his  first  40  acres  and  who  afterwards  became  the  heaviest 
tax  payer  in  the  county. 

In  the  newspapers  of  the  day  mention  is  frequently  made 
of  the  enthusiasm  caused  by  the  building  of  the  road  and  of 
the  prosperity  that  it  brought.  The  farmers  supplied  many 
teams  and  many  of  the  contractors  and  laborers  who  came  to 
work  on  the  road  became  permanent  settlers.  High  grades 
were  thrown  across  the  swamps,  substantial  bridges  were  built 
by  engineers  who  understood  the  work  and  who  had  ample 
funds  at  their  command,  and  for  the  first  time  a  road  to  the 
east  was  made  able  to  withstand  the  spring  freshets  that  had 
washed  away  the  weaker  embankments  of  the  settlers. 

In  1836  while  work  on  the  road  was  still  in  progress,  Con- 
gress seriously  considered  the  matter  of  substituting  a  rail- 


222  National  Road  in  Indiana 

way  for  the  highway  west  of  Columbus,  Ohio.  The  first  rail- 
way in  the  United  States,  built  ten  years  before,  was  a  decided 
success,  others  were  being  built  in  every  direction  and  it  seemed 
evident  that  this  was  the  coming  means  of  transportation. 
After  considerable  discussion,  however,  it  was  decided  to  com- 
plete the  road  as  originally  planned,  the  appropriation  of  that 
year  providing  that  the  greatest  possible  continuous  portion  of 
the  road  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  should  be  completed  so  that  the 
finished  part  might  be  surrendered  to  the  states. 

During  the  following  year  the  road  was  macadamized 
through  Indianapolis  making  Washington  street  the  first  paved 
street  in  town.  This  caused  such  an  awakening  of  civic  pride 
that  the  trustees  soon  afterwards  established  grades  so  that 
sidewalks  and  gutters  could  be  built  by  the  owners  of  adjoining 
property. 

The  last  appropriation  for  work  in  Indiana  was  made  in 
1838,  the  total  amount  spent  by  the  government  in  the  state 
being  $1,136,000.00. 

Heavy  immigration  through  central  Indiana  had  begun 
before  the  National  road  was  under  way.  In  1827  the  Indi- 
ana Gazette  noted  that  for  a  week  the  town  had  scarcely  been 
free  of  immigrant  wagons  and  in  a  later  issue  of  the  same 
year  they  said  that  often  as  many  as  thirty  were  camped  to- 
gether for  the  night.  Most  of  this  travel  came  on  the  Madison 
and  Brookville  roads  from  the  Ohio  river. 

Practically  all  of  the  travel  in  Indiana  before  the  Govern- 
ment road  was  in  condition  to  be  used  was  from  south  to  north, 
along  the  water  courses  and  the  roads  and  trails  from  the 
Ohio,  but  during  the  next  ten  years  a  constant  stream  of  immi- 
gration passed  through  Indianapolis  on  the  National  road, 
many  of  the  settlers  going  to  the  Wabash  country,  being  at- 
tracted by  the  fertility  of  the  land  and  by  the  movement,  begun 
in  1827,  for  a  canal  to  connect  the  Wabash  river  with  Lake 
Erie. 


National  Road  in  Indiana 


223 


ENTRANCE  AND  ARCHED  ALLEYWAY  OF  AN  OLD  HOUSE  IN 
CENTERVILLE 


224  National  Road  in  Indiana 

Later  on,  during  the  years  before  the  Civil  war,  a  steady 
line  of  canvas  covered  emigrant  wagons  moved  over  the  road 
to  the  far  west,  many  going  because  of  the  discoveries  of  gold 
in  Colorado.  Inscribed  on  the  canvas  was  often  seen  the 
destination  of  the  travelers.  One  wagon  that  bore  the  legend 
"Pike's  Peak  or  Bust"  came  trailing  back  a  few  months  later 
with  the  laconic  word,  "Busted"  added  below  the  original 
inscription. 

Although  when  the  road  was  surveyed  across  Indiana  the 
only  town  between  Centerville,  near  the  eastern  boundary  of 
the  state,  and  Terre  Haute  near  the  western  boundary,  was 
Indianapolis,  the  capital  in  the  woods,  within  the  next  few 
years  many  towns  were  located  that  became  busy  and  prosper- 
ous with  the  building  of  the  highway. 
.  In  the  boom  days  that  followed,  lots  in  Centerville  sold 
rapidly  and  prices  were  high.  Some  of  the  streets,  originally 
100  feet  wide  were  narrowed  to  60  and  even  40  feet,  to  gain 
more  ground,  residences  were  built  flush  with  the  sidewalk 
and  even  alleys  were  arched  over  to  make  more  room.  Sev- 
eral examples  of  such  covered  alleys  may  be  seen  there  today. 

East  of  Indianapolis,  both  Greenfield  and  Knightstown  were 
established  in  1828,  the  year  following  the  survey,  Knightstown 
being  named  in  honor  of  Jonathan  Knight  the  surveyor  in 
charge  of  the  road,  and  a  year  later  the  town  of  Cumberland 
was  established  and  named  for  the  road  itself.  Other  settle- 
ments followed  rapidly  and  in  1835  the  little  town  of  Vandalia, 
in  Wayne  County,  was  abandoned  because  the  highway  had 
passed  a  few  miles  to  the  south.  As  the  highway  did  not  go 
to  Vandalia,  Vandalia  went  to  the  highway.  Some  of  the 
buildings  were  moved  down  to  the  big  road  and  Cambridge 
City  was  established. 

West  of  Indianapolis,  Plainfield,  Belleville,  Stilesville,  Put- 
namville  and  Harmony  were  all  established  within  a  few  years 
of  the  location  of  the  road,  and  all  were  prosperous  towns  dur- 


National  Road  in  Indiana  225 

ing  the  years  that  it  was  the  only  means  of  transportation 
between  the  east  and  west. 

Putnamville  was  at  one  time  a  rival  of  Greencastle  and  came 
very  near  securing  the  location  of  DePauw  University,  but 
when  later  on  the  builders  of  the  railroad  from  Terre  Haute 
to  Indianapolis  decided  to  swing  it  north  to  Greencastle,  miss- 
ing Putnamville,  Belleville  and  Stilesville,  the  growth  of  these 
towns  came  to  an  end.  They  are  still  picturesque  communities, 
with  a  charm  and  serenity  lacking  in  the  busier  railroad  towns. 

Brazil,  the  largest  town  established  in  Indiana  along  the 
National  highway,  was  not  located  until  1844  and  six  years 
later  had  only  eighty-four  inhabitants  but  its  location  on  the 
main  line  of  travel  finally  caused  the  county  seat  to  be  moved 
there  from  Bowling  Green.  The  first  relay  station  for  chang- 
ing horses  on  the  stage  line  east  of  Terre  Haute  was  at  the 
present  site  of  Brazil  and  for  several  years  was  the  only  build- 
ing there. 

Among  the  first  business  ventures  along  the  road  were 
blacksmith  and  wagon  shops  that  soon  were  made  busy  by 
the  constantly  increasing  traffic.  These  together  with  a  tav- 
ern, and  a  general  store  in  which  the  postofifice  was  located, 
made  the  beginning  of  many  a  prosperous  town.  From  the 
general  stores  went  peddlers'  wagons,  that  carried  hardware, 
drugs,  dry  goods  and  other  staple  articles  to  the  more  remote 
settlements. 

The  road  became  a  busy  thoroughfare.  Over  its  long 
stretches  passed  a  procession  of  stage  and  mail  coaches,  ex- 
press carriers,  emigrants  and  wagoners  with  heavy  loads  of 
freight.  Wagon  house  yards  were  located  along  the  line, 
where  the  tired  horses  rested  over  night  beside  their  great 
loads,  and  taverns,  famous  in  their  day,  were  built  at  con- 
venient points  for  the  stages,  that  were  constantly  arriving  and 
departing. 

In  1832,  before  the  road  was  in  condition  for  fast  travel, 


226 


National  Road  in  Indiana 


the  stage  line  of  P.  Beers  was  advertised  to  make  the  trip 
from  Indianapolis  to  Dayton  in  two  and  a  half  days.  This 
included  stopping  each  night  at  a  tavern.  In  later  years  it 
became  the  custom  for  many  of  the  stages  to  drive  straight 
ahead,  day  and  night,  until  they  reached  their  destination.  In 
good  weather  they  would  average  about  150  miles  a  day  but 
in  bad  weather  the  time  was  much  slower. 


THE  INN  AT  CAMBRIDGE  CITY 

Passenger  and  mail  coaches  were  operated  much  like  the 
railways  of  today,  the  rival  lines  fighting  each  other  at  times 
with  great  bitterness  and  competing  in  speed,  accommodations 
and  rates  of  tariff.  However,  the  freight  traffic  was  more  im- 
portant than  the  passenger  business,  as  it  is  on  the  railroads 
today.  Great  wagons  hauled  the  produce  of  the  middle  west 
over  the  mountains  to  the  Potomac  and  brought  back  the 
products  of  mill  and  factory.  This  freight  traffic  created  a 
race  of  wagoners  who  were  strong  and  daring  and  many  stories 
were  told  of  their  prowess. 

The  favorite  wagons  for  hauling  freight  were  of  the  Cones- 


National  Road  in  Indiana  227 

toga  type,  named  for  the  valley  in  Pennsylvania  where  they 
were  first  built.  These  wagons  had  long  deep  beds,  sloping 
upward  at  each  end,  to  prevent  the  contents  from  shifting  when 
going  up  and  down  the  hills.  The  underbody  was  usually 
painted  blue  while  the  upper  woodwork  was  bright  red.  The 
top  was  covered  with  canvas  drawn  over  wooden  bows.  The 
wagons  had  wheels  of  unusual  strength,  most  of  them  with 
broad  treads,  as  tolls  for  broad  wheels  were  less  than  for  the 
narrow  ones  that  tended  to  cut  up  the  road  bed.  They  made 
a  brave  showing  and  the  wagoners  were  very  proud  of  them. 
Some  had  bells  hung  on  an  arch  over  the  hames  of  the  harness 
that  kept  up  a  constant  chime. 

The  most  important  official  use  of  the  National  highway 
was  as  a  means  for  transporting  the  United  States  mail  and 
on  this  road  was  an  important  trunk  system  of  mail  coach  lines. 
The  Great  Eastern  and  Great  Western  mails  ran  between  St. 
Louis  and  Washington  and  many  lesser  mail  lines  connected 
with  the  Cumberland  road  at  different  points  along  the  way, 
the  principal  ones  being  those  from  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburgh. 
Even  compared  with  the  fast  mail  trains  of  today  the  express 
mails  of  80  years  ago  made  excellent  time. 

In  1837  the  schedule  of  the  postoffice  for  the  Great  Western 
mail  from  Washington  to  Indianapolis,  was  65^2  hours  and  to 
St.  Louis  94  hours.  The  ordinary  mail  coaches,  which  also 
carried  passengers,  made  much  slower  time,  it  taking  six  days 
and  twenty  hours  to  reach  Washington  from  Indianapolis. 

The  schedule  of  mails  printed  in  the  Indiana  Journal  in  1833 
showed  an  eastern  mail  by  Centerville  three  times  a  week  and 
a  mail  to  Terre  Haute  twice  a  week.  The  Government  re- 
quirements of  1842  for  carrying  the  mails  east  and  west  from 
Indianapolis  called  for  coaches  drawn  by  four  horses  to  be  run 
six  days  a  week.  The  approach  of  the  mail  coach  was 
announced  by  the  blowing  of  a  bugle  to  notify  the  postmaster 
to  be  ready  for  a  quick  change  of  mails.     In  a  few  minutes  it 


228  National  Road  in  Indiana 

would  be  off  again  at  full  speed.  The  drivers  of  the  fast  mails 
were  selected  for  their  skill  and  daring  and  they  took  great 
pride  in  maintaining  their  schedules.  When  news  of  unusual 
importance  was  being  carried,  such  as  a  president's  message, 
extra  relays  of  horses  were  provided  along  the  route  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  establish  a  new  speed  record.  At  such 
times  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  for  a  traveler  who  had  any 
regard  for  his  personal  comfort  to  wait  for  a  slower  coach. 

The  charm  of  the  road  in  those  picturesque  days  has  appealed 
to  many  Indiana  authors.  In  his  narrative  in  verse,  "A  Child 
World",  whose  scenes  are  laid  in  an  old  homestead  facing  the 
highway,  James  Whitcomb  Riley  has  called  it  a  road  that 
"blossoms  with  romance". 

"Historic  Indiana",  by  Julia  Henderson  Levering,  contains 
a  delightful  account  of  a  trip  over  the  road  to  the  east  by 
stage  when  such  a  journey  was  an  event  to  be  planned  by  the 
traveler  months  in  advance,  "A  new  dozen  of  shirts,  all  of 
finest  linen,  must  be  hand  stitched  for  the  journey.  His  best 
blue  broadcloth  clothes  and  flowered  waistcoat  must  be  brushed, 
his  gold  fob  polished,  and  the  beaver  hat  remodeled  and  ironed." 
While  his  wife  "would  content  herself  with  a  made-over  outfit, 
so  that  she  might  purchase  'brand  new'  peau  de  soie  and  French 
merino  at  the  centers  of  fashion." 

Benjamin  S.  Parker  lived  as  a  boy  in  Eastern  Indiana  near 
the  great  thoroughfare.  In  his  recollections  of  those  days  in 
the  eighteen-forties  he  says  "a  flood-tide  of  emigration  poured 
along  the  great  highway  from  June  to  November,  such  as  the 
world  seldom  saw  upon  a  single  line  before  the  modern  rail- 
road era. 

"These  companies  of  wagons  were  those  of  'the  movers' 
as  we  termed  the  families  that  were  traveling  from  the  older 
States  to  the  new  ones,  to  open  farms  and  make  homes  there. 
Many  families  occupied  two  or  more  of  the  big  road-wagons 
then  in  use,  with  their  household  goods,  and  their  implements, 


National  Road  in  Indiana  229 

while  extra  horses,  colts,  cattle,  sheep,  and  sometimes  hogs, 
were  led  or  driven  behind. 

"But  everybody  did  not  travel  in  that  way.  Single  families, 
occupying  only  a  single  one  or  two  horse  wagon  or  a  cart, 
frequently  passed  along,  seeming  as  confident  and  hopeful  as 
the  others,  while  even  the  resolute  family,  the  members  of 
which  carried  their  worldly  possessions  upon  their  backs  or 
pushed  them  forward  in  hand-wagons,  was  not  an  unfamiliar 
spectacle. 

"With  the  tinkling  of  the  bells,  the  rumbling  of  the  wheels, 
the  noise  of  the  animals,  and  the  chatter  of  the  people,  as  they 
went  forever  forward,  the  little  boy  who  had  gone  down  to  the 
road  from  his  lonesome  home  in  the  woods  was  naturally  capti- 
vated and  carried  away  into  the  great,  active  world  that  he  had 
not  before  dreamed  of. 

"But  the  greatest  wonder  and  delight  of  all  was  the  stage- 
coach, radiant  in  new  paint,  drawn  by  its  four  matched  horses 
in  their  showy  harness,  and  filled  inside  and  on  top  with  well- 
dressed  people,  representatives  of  the  commercial  and  pro- 
fessional life  of  the  land. 

"I  think  yet  that  there  has  never  been  a  more  graceful  or 
handsome  turnout  than  one  of  those  fine  old  stage-coaches 
drawn  by  a  splendid  team  of  matched  horses,  and  driven  by 
such  drivers  as  used  to  handle  the  ribbons  between  Richmond 
and  Indianapolis.  We  could  hear  the  driver  playing  his  bugle 
as  he  approached  the  little  town  that  lay  just  beyond  us,  and  it 
all  seemed  too  grand  and  fine  to  be  other  than  a  dream." 

Every  traveler  was  welcomed  with  generous  hospitality  by 
the  settlers  of  those  days  but  travel  became  so  heavy  that  in 
self-defense  some  of  those  who  lived  along  the  highway  were 
compelled  to  hang  out  tavern  signs  to  indicate  that  some 
charges  would  be  made.  The  usual  rates  were  twenty-five 
cents  for  a  bed  or  meal  and  many  comfortable  fortunes  were 
made  at  these  rates.     The  legislature  of  Indiana  seemed  to  feel 


230  National  Road  in  Indiana 

that  this  business  needed  some  regulations  and  in  1832  passed 
an  act  providing  that  before  a  tavern  keeper  should  be  per- 
mitted to  retail  liquor  he  should  have  at  least  one  spare  room 
with  two  beds  and  bedding,  good  stabling  for  at  least  four 
horses  and  should  keep  posted  in  his  public  room  the  rates  for 
food,  lodging,  stabling  and  liquor. 

The  first  taverns  of  the  west  were  built  mostly  of  logs,  often 
of  but  one  or  two  rooms  where  the  guests  were  glad  to  sleep 
together  upon  the  floor,  but  better  tavern's  arose  beside  the 
western  roads  even  before  the  Cumberland  road  was  under 
way.  In  Zanesville,  Ohio,  Robert  Taylor  built  in  1807  a  tav- 
ern from  which  he  hung  out  the  "Sign  of  the  Orange  Tree", 
where  in  1810,  when  Zanesville  was  the  temporary  capitol  of 
Ohio,  the  legislature  made  its  headquarters. 

The  first  tavern  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  was  built  in  1813  and 
bore  the  sign  of  "The  Lion  &  the  Eagle".  The  Neil  House  at 
Columbus,  opened  sometime  in  the  twenties,  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Neil-Moore  &  Company  line  of  stages  and  was 
the  best  known  tavern  in  Ohio  in  the  old  coaching  days. 

Billy  Werden's  tavern  in  Springfield  was  the  leading  hostelry 
in  western  Ohio.  At  this  point  the  stages  to  Cincinnati  left 
the  Cumberland  road.  At  Richmond,  Indiana,  were  the  Starr 
tavern,  Gilbert's  tavern,  Bayles'  Sign  of  the  Green  Tree  and 
Sloane's  brick  stage  house,  all  of  which  shared  in  the  business 
of  the  road.  There  was  also  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Franklin 
"the  Friends'  Boarding  House",  known  afterwards  as  Nixon's, 
and  later  on  as  the  Huntington  House.  Here  in  1842  Henry 
Clay,  with  the  gallantry  of  a  Kentucky  gentleman  and  the 
strategy  of  an  old  political  campaigner,  kissed  a  number  of 
Quaker  ladies  who  had  come  to  greet  the  distinguished  visitor. 
This  caused  considerable  comment,  and  the  echoes  of  those 
kisses  were  heard  in  the  next  presidential  campaign.  At  Cen- 
terville  travelers  found  the  White  Hall  Tavern  and  the  Man- 
sion House,  a  great  center  in  the  stage  coach  days,  and  at 


National  Road  in  Indiana  231 

Cambridge  City  was  the  United  States  hotel  and  the  Inn,  a 
long  two-story  frame  structure  where  horses  were  changed  by 
the  stages  running  between  Indianapolis  and  Dayton.  This 
building  was  torn  down  several  years  ago. 


Drawing  by  Wilbur  B.  Shook 

THE  HUDDLESTON   HOUSE 

Just  west  of  Cambridge  City  still  stands  the  Huddleston 
house,  built  in  the  early  forties,  a  great  three-story  brick  build- 
ing where  hundreds  of  emigrant  wagons  stopped  on  their  way 
to  the  west.  The  wagon  yard  is  still  there  and  the  huge  brick 
oven  where  travelers  were  at  liberty  to  do  their  baking.  One 
morning,  so  the  story  goes,  Mr.  Huddleston  found  that  a 
party  of  emigrants  had  departed  at  daybreak,  forgetting  their 
bread  that  had  been  put  in  the  oven  the  night  before.  Hastily 
saddling  a  horse  he  followed  them  with  the  bread  only  to  dis- 
cover that  their  hurried  departure  had  been  caused  by  the  fact 
that  they  had  taken  his  best  set  of  harness. 


232  National  Road  in  Indiana 

Farther  west  on  the  way  to  Indianapolis  travelers  would 
come  to  Dillon's  Tavern  and  Stage  Office  at  Knightstown,  and 
at  Greenfield  they  would  find  Gooding  Hall  and  a  rival  tavern 
kept  by  the  postmaster,  William  Sebastian.  At  Cumberland 
was  a  tavern  known  as  Cumberland  Hall. 

In  Indianapolis  was  Washington  Hall,  a  frame  tavern  built 
about  1826  by  James  Blake  and  Samuel  Henderson,  on  the 
south  side  of  Washington  street.  This  became  a  famous 
hostelry.  In  1833  Mr.  Henderson  announced  that  additions 
making  it  the  largest  hotel  in  the  state  had  been  completed, 
including  several  large  and  commodious  porches  that  afforded 
pleasant  promenades  and  handsome  views  of  the  town.  Three 
years  later  it  was  replaced  by  a  brick  structure  bearing  the 
same  name  that  was  for  years  the  headquarters  of  the  Whig 
Party  in  Indiana.  For  fifteen  years  it  was  in  charge  of 
Edmund  Browning,  whose  able  management  added  to  its  fame. 
Among  his  successors  as  landlord  of  this  fine  old  tavern  was 
General  W.  J.  Elliott,  whose  son,  Byron  K.  Elliott,  afterwards 
became  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  author  of  sev- 
eral well  known  legal  text  books. 

Across  the  street  from  Washington  Hall  was  the  Mansion 
House,  afterwards  known  as  the  Union  Hotel,  a  two-story 
brick  building  kept  by  Basil  Brown,  a  well  known  landlord  of 
the  time.  This  was  Democratic  headquarters  until  the  build- 
ing of  the  Palmer  House,  on  the  corner  of  Illinois  street  in 
1841.  At  the  corner  of  New  Jersey  street  John  Little  opened 
a  frame  tavern  in  the  summer  of  1834.  This  was  known  for 
years  as  the  "Sun  Tavern"  from  a  picture  of  the  rising  sun 
that  was  painted  in  brilliant  colors  on  the  swinging  sign  over 
the  door.  It  was  a  favorite  inn  with  the  many  travelers  who 
came  on  horseback  along  the  National  road. 

At  Mt.  Jackson,  a  few  miles  west  of  Indianapolis,  was  the 
home  of  Nathaniel  Bolton,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  first 
newspaper  at  the  Capitol,  and  his  gifted  wife,  Sara  T.  Bolton. 


National  Road  in  Indiana  233 

Their  large  rambling  house,  built  partly  of  logs  and  partly  of 
frame,  was  a  center  of  hospitality,  famous  throughout  the 
middle  west.  On  account  of  financial  troubles,  caused  by  pay- 
ing debts  of  friends  for  whom  he  had  endorsed,  Mr.  Bolton 
found  it  necessary  to  turn  his  home  into  a  tavern,  which  he 
conducted  for  nine  years,  when  the  farm  was  bought  by  the 
state  as  the  site  for  the  Central  Insane  Hospital.  Mrs.  Bolton 
has  said  that  during  these  busy  years  she  often  acted  as  house- 
keeper, dairy  maid  and  cook. 

A  few  miles  further  west  of  Indianapolis  was  the  Hartsock 
tavern  at  Bridgeport  and  the  Ohio  House  at  Plainfield.  Just 
west  of  Mill  Creek  in  Putnam  County  were  the  twin  taverns 
known  as  the  Tecumseh  and  Washington  Hall  that  were  well 
known  in  their  day,  and  farther  on  in  Putnamville  was  the 
Eagle  House. 

During  the  busy  years  of  the  road  there  were  nine  taverns 
along  the  road  in  Clay  County  alone.  One  of  the  best,  known 
as  Kennedy's,  was  at  the  crossing  of  the  state  road  to  Rock- 
ville  and  Bowling  Green,  while  on  the  hill  west  of  where  Brazil 
now  stands  was  Cunningham's  Tavern,  which  later  on  was 
enlarged  and  a  race  course  added  where  Terre  Haute  sports- 
men trained  their  horses.  Across  the  road  from  Cunningham's 
was  the  Usher  homestead  built  in  1838  and  thought  by  many 
to  be  the  finest  dwelling  in  that  part  of  Indiana. 

The  first  tavern  in  Terre  Haute  was  the  Eagle  and  Lion. 
When  the  highway  reached  the  town,  which  then  had  about 
800  inhabitants,  the  principal  hotel  was  the  Early  House. 

All  along  the  road  were  wagon  houses  that  offered  their 
hospitality  to  the  hundreds  engaged  in  the  freight  traffic. 
Most  of  these  wagon  houses  were  situated  at  the  edge  of  the 
larger  towns  where  the  prices  were  more  reasonable  than  at 
the  inns  near  the  center  of  business.  These  wagon  houses 
were  surrounded  by  commodious  yards  for  the  horses.  In  all 
of  the  taverns  and  wagon  houses  were  great  fireplaces,  in  which 
logs  were  burned,  whose  fires  lighted  up  the  rooms  during  the 


234  National  Road  in  Indiana 

winter  evenings  and  before  which  drivers  and  passengers  were 
glad  to  spread  their  blankets  and  sleep  through  the  night  when 
other  accommodations  could  not  be  had. 

The  taverns  were  the  centers  of  the  social  life  of  the  day. 
Many  a  dance  was  held  on  their  puncheon  floors  to  music 
played  by  the  old  time  fiddlers.  Judges,  riding  the  circuits, 
together  with  the  members  of  the  bar,  made  them  their  head- 
quarters and  within  their  walls  were  planned  many  of  the 
strategies  of  those  heated  campaigns  that  swept  the  old  Indian 
fighter,  William  Henry  Harrison,  into  office  to  the  tune  of 
'Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  Too",  and  that  afterwards  resulted  in 
decisive  victories  for  the  Democrats,  under  the  leadership  of 
such  men  as  James  Whitcomb  and  Robert  Dale  Owen,  and 
the  carrying  of  the  next  presidential  election  by  James  K.  Polk. 

During  these  years  both  Henry  Clay  and  Martin  Van  Buren 
traveled  across  Indiana  along  the  National  Road  making 
speeches  at  the  important  towns.  Clay  had  always  been  a 
champion  of  the  road,  but  Van  Buren  had  opposed  internal 
improvements  by  the  Federal  Government  and  when  his  coach 
tipped  over  in  the  worst  mud  hole  at  Plainfield  many  thought 
that  this  supposed  "accident"  had  been  arranged  to  give  him 
an  object  lesson  on  the  importance  of  keeping  the  highway  in 
repair. 

After  the  Government  stopped  work  on  the  road  in  Indiana 
it  was  turned  over  to  the  state  in  1848.  But  the  state  would 
have  none  of  it.  The  canals  and  railroad  that  it  had  built  in 
a  gigantic  and  ill  considered  scheme  of  internal  improvements 
had  resulted  in  financial  disaster,  and  the  state  had  begun  to 
turn  them  over  to  such  private  companies  as  would  agree  to 
complete  them  and  keep  them  in  operation. 

And  so  control  of  the  National  road  through  Hancock, 
Marion,  Hendricks  and  Putman  Counties  was  granted  in  1849 
to  the  Central  Plank  Road  Company  which  covered  the  road 
with  oak  planks  and  put  up  a  series  of  toll  gates.     In  Indian- 


National  Road  in  Indiana  235 

apolis  a  toll  gate  was  built  at  the  bridge  and  another  just  east 
of  town.  This  was  considered  by  the  citizens  as  taking  an 
unfair  advantage  of  the  franchise  and  finally  the  eastern  gate 
was  removed,  after  the  town  council  had  agreed  that  the  com- 
pany should  not  be  required  to  keep  Washington  street  in 
repair.  After  a  time  the  planks  began  to  decay  and  the  road 
was  graveled.  When  an  excavation  was  made  for  a  sewer  in 
Irvington  not  many  years  ago,  some  of  the  old  planks  were 
discovered  in  a  good  state  of  preservation. 

An  English  traveler,  Mr.  J.  Richard  Beste,  who  visited  "the 
interior  of  America"  in  1851,  noted  in  his  book,  "The  Wabash", 
that  tolls  were  not  required  to  be  paid  on  the  Central  Plank 
Road  by  those  "going  to  or  returning  from  militia  musterings, 
from  any  religious  meeting  on  the  Sabbath,  from  any  state, 
town  or  county  election,  or  from  any  funeral  procession." 

Through  Wayne  County  the  road  was  taken  over  by  the 
Wayne  County  Turnpike  Company  and  was  operated  by  it  as 
a  toll  road  for  over  forty  years  when  it  was  finally  purchased 
by  the  townships  through  which  it  passed  and  made  a  free 
gravel  road,  and  in  Henry  county  the  road  was  operated  for 
many  years  by  a  private  company. 

When  the  era  of  railroad  building  began,  among  the  first 
projects  were  those  for  paralleling  the  National  road  in  order 
to  secure  some  of  its  great  traffic.  The  Terre  Haute  &  Indi- 
anapolis Railroad,  the  second  railroad  completed  to  Indian- 
apolis, organized  by  Chauncey  Rose  of  Terre  Haute,  was 
begun  in  1851,  construction  work  being  carried  on  from  both 
ends  of  the  line.  A  year  later  the  first  train  was  run  over  the 
road.  During  the  time  of  construction  the  gap  in  the  line  was 
connected  by  stage.  Some  idea  of  the  amount  of  travel  at  that 
time  may  be  had  from  the  annual  report  for  1852,  published 
just  before  the  road  was  completed,  in  which  Mr.  Rose  re- 
ported that,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  people,  a  box  car  for 
passengers  had  been  attached  to  each  iron  train,  bringing  in 


236  National  Road  in  Indiana 

$100.00  a  day.  When  the  Indiana  Central  road  from  Indian- 
apolis to  Richmond  was  completed  in  the  next  year  the  Na- 
tional highway  was  paralleled  by  railroads  for  the  entire  dis- 
tance, across  the  state. 

Good  homesteads  were  built  all  along  the  great  highway. 
At  first  the  better  houses  were  built  of  hewed  logs  which  were 
an  advance  over  the  round  logs  used  in  the  early  cabins.  Then, 
with  the  coming  of  saw  mills  and  the  opening  of  brick  yards, 
houses  of  both  frame  and  brick  were  constructed.  Saw  mills 
were  far  apart  and  the  use  of  sawed  lumber  generally  meant 
a  long  haul,  while  bricks  could  be  made  at  any  place  where 
a  clay  bank  was  available,  so  many  of  the  early  houses  were 
built  of  brick. 

There  were  no  architects  in  Indiana  at  that  time — perhaps 
that  was  an  advantage,  for  the  simple  lines  of  the  houses  built 
by  the  settlers  after  the  types  of  the  homes  from  which  many 
of  them  had  come  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas  are  much  more  pleasing  than  the  pretentious 
homes  of  a  later  period. 

Many  of  the  old  homes  have  been  torn  down  to  make  way 
for  new  construction,  but  a  number  still  remain  that  are  worthy 
of  study.  There  are  some  beautiful  doorways  in  Centerville 
and  Cambridge  City,  those  in  the  Lantz  and  Conklin  houses 
being  deserving  of  special  mention.  In  the  old  Morton  home 
at  Centerville  is  a  stairway  so  simple  and  yet  so  graceful  that 
it  is  a  delight  to  those  who  enjoy  good  design  and  good  work- 
manship, Many  other  examples  of  good  old  time  construc- 
tion may  be  found  in  other  towns  along  the  road. 

Back  of  these  homes  may  still  be  found  old  time  gardens 
filled  with  gay  flowers  and  fragrant  herbs,  much  as  they  were 
planted  by  the  pioneers,  and  venerable  apple  trees,  some  of 
which  may  have  been  in  the  original  orchards  that  were  noted 
in  the  clearings  by  the  surveyors  over  ninety  years  ago. 

Today  the  old  road  is  as  busy  as  ever.     The  railways  and 


National  Road  in  Indiana  237 

electric  roads  that  connect  the  towns  along  the  line  carry  a 
heavy  traffic,  yet  a  constant  procession  passes  along  the  high- 
way. Between  the  towns  comfortable  farm  houses  have  been 
built  along  the  road,  so  numerous  that  the  traveler  is  never 
out  of  sight  of  one.  In  fact  the  old  road  that  at  one  time  ran 
through  trackless  forests  is  now  a  busy  street  throughout  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  within  the  state  of  Indiana. 

It  lacks  perhaps  the  charm  of  a  winding  country  road,  yet 
it  has  the  dignity  that  goes  with  the  accomplishment  of  a 
great  purpose.  Stretching  away  straight  as  an  arrow,  cutting 
through  the  hills,  crossing  the  valleys  on  sturdy  embankments, 
bridging  the  streams  with  solid  stone,  it  seems  destined  to  be 
during  the  next  century,  as  it  has  in  the  last,  the  greatest 
thoroughfare  linking  the  east  with  the  west. 

January,  1919. 


Appropriations  Made  by  Congress  for 
Work  on  the  National  Road  in  the  State  of  Indiana 

Act  of  March  3,  1829 $  51,600.00 

Act  of  May     31,  1830 60,000.00 

Act  of  March  2,  1831 75,000.00 

Act  of  July       3,  1832 100,000.00 

Act  of  March   2,  1833 100,000.00 

Act  of  June    24,  1834 150,000.00 

Act  of  March  3,  1835 100,000.00 

Act  of  July       2,  1836 250,000.00 

Act  of  March   3,  1837 100,000.00 

Act  of  May     25,  1838 150,000.00 


$1,136,600.00 


